DEATH FROM A DISTANCE is a US murder mystery made in 1935 and featuring a hardboiled cop teaming up with a female reporter. By teaming up I mean that he typically seems to lecture her around in a mildly sexist fashion while she sticks up for herself. The opening murder sequence is the best part of the film as it takes place in a planetarium during a lecture by an astronomer. A gun fires and an audience member lies dead, so the detective has to follow the clues and solve the mystery.This opening scene is reminiscent of Hitchcock and actually predates a similar moment in his version of THE 39 STEPS. Unfortunately the rest of the film is largely slow-paced and rather bloated with red herrings and the like. It's not the kind of film to engross you, rather the type of film to fall asleep to. The two main stars do their best but DEATH FROM A DISTANCE is a film that's dated more than anything else.

Frank Strayer's direction here is a grade higher than his usual humdrum level. As usual however, he eschews reverse angles, but on this occasion he has gone easy on close-ups. Most of the scenes are handled in rather long takes, but the camera-work has more movement here than is the director's norm. The movie also exhibits some typical trademarks of Invincible Pictures. Most of the action is confined to the one set, although it is well designed and large enough to accommodate a rather extensive cast of character players and extras. As usual, there is no background music at all except under the opening and end credits. Fortunately, this lack is skilfully disguised by the brisk pace of the plot. The cast too is not without interest, although the identity of the killer is pretty obvious. All told, however, the script is more accomplished than then usual Invincible effort, thanks not so much to its routine plot but to some bright, crisp dialogue, expertly delivered here by Russell Hopton and Lola Lane. George Marion must be included in our praises too. In fact his presence alone is worth at least half the price of the DVD.

My opinion is almost certainly influenced by the picture and especially the sound quality of the DVD print I saw (let's just say that at least 30% of the dialogue is hard to hear), but although I'm a big fan of this genre, I didn't really care for this movie. Many of the characters are quite hard to tell apart, and it doesn't help that they're played by a cast of complete strangers to all but the most fanatic early-1930s film buffs. To be honest, the only member of the cast I recognized was Lola Lane, who plays the stereotypical "nosy" reporter; though you can see sparks of the "Torchy Blane" personality (whom Lane actually played once herself a few years later), her character remains clueless throughout the film as the male detective figures out everything about the case. All in all, "Death From A Distance" is a long, dull 70 minutes. *1/2 out of 4.

During a lecture at a planetarium one of the people in the audience is killed. The police are called and with the help of, or possibly despite the interference of a female reporter the killer is eventually unmasked.If nothing else this film has a unique location which is played up a great deal as the film milks it for all its worth. What is worth is plenty since this is a snappy mystery with great dialog and a decent mystery. The acting is good and the cast is made up of troopers who you've probably seen in countless other films.This is one of those movie that's worth seeking out and worth buying. Alpha Video is putting it out shortly in a cheap edition and I'll be picking up copies for friends who like the really good mysteries. Keep an eye on Amazon, you won't be disappointed.